For the next year, this column will mark The Western Producer’s 100th anniversary by taking a deep dive every week into a past issue of the paper.
A fight broke out in the Dec. 10, 1953, issue.
Actually, the donnybrook took place at the Saskatchewan Farmers Union annual meeting but eventually made its way into the pages of The Western Producer.
The scrap began when delegates insisted that Wes Coates, a retiring SFU vice-president, be allowed to report on the recent International Wheat Agreement negotiations in Washington, D.C.
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Coates had been sent to the talks by the Interprovincial Farm Union Council with instructions to hold out for a price of $2.20 per bu. However, he became persona non grata in many parts of the farming community when he eventually agreed to sign off on a $2.05 per bu. price.
After he finished his presentation, SFU president Joe Phelps “jumped to his feet,” and said he had something to say and suggested the reporters in the room could stay as long as they agreed not to write about what they were about to hear.
The journalists decided to leave the hall instead, but The Western Producer’s reporter must have had some pretty good contacts because they proceeded to provide a blow-by-blow account of what happened next.
Phelps tied into Coates for selling out on wheat prices, but then things got personal.
Coates said vice-presidents of the organization found it hard to get along with Phelps, which was why there was high turnover in officials.
“To which Mr. Phelps is understood to have retorted that it was hard to get along with a vice-president who didn’t do any organization work and who couldn’t be contacted when he was needed.”
An SFU director eventually suggested that nothing was to be gained by carrying things on any furthur and Coates’ report was tabled.
Delegates then moved on to the business of resolutions, but that wasn’t the end of it.
Phelps and Coates took their argument to the coatroom outside the hall for a few minutes before Phelps eventually returned to the convention.
Covering agricultural politics today is a much tamer affair.
